Amazon and DRM changes

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by Lys

I ran a check over Calibre and out of around 200 ebooks I bought in the last 2 years, less than 20 are from Amazon, and only 2 of them are exclusive there. I can well live without them, thankfully for me.

My book purchases are somewhat similar (in proportion, not exact numbers) to this, so long as I exclude the freebies.

Ironically, before Amazon pulled this crap, I'd actually been fully intending to start purchasing books more often on Kindle.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

In the future if I title is Amazon exclusive, I'll see if the author has a website or some other way for me to buy that title and if not, hey, my TBR pile is already outrageous anyway.

I... think you missed the meaning of the word "exclusive."

[graycyn]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

Me too. I wonder if we all wouldn't have been better off buying from Kobo all along.

Honestly, I'd have liked to buy everything from Kobo. But most of the times I've bought from Amazon in recent years, it's been a title that was not available on Kobo.

So I have an Amazon library, mostly, but not all freebies, and I have a Kobo library, mostly purchases, with some freebies. I've also got purchases on Google and even a few from Smashwords. Not to mention QUITE a few purchases from Barnes & Noble in the early days, back before they removed the download option (haven't purchased from B&N since).

I'm thankful for Calibre and plugins.

[Rhooo]

DRM and Amazon domination-related, I was recommended a DRM-free ebook site by a friend (Weightless Books) when I said that I wanted to support more DRM-free book vendors. Only to be slapped in the face with "we won't sell to you because we can't be arsed to handle VAT" as soon as I got to their site. Even my usual method of evading geo-blocking (VPN that makes it seem I'm in the US) didn't work, the process stalled as soon as I tried and failed to log in to PayPal for the shopping cart payment (my guess is they can detect the country the PP account is registered in).

And this, ladies and gents, is one of the reasons Amazon is so dominant (the content I specifically wanted from that site is also available on Amazon. But not DRM-free, unless you can download it in KF8, rather than KFX). I've lost count of the number of indie outfits that funneled me right back to that predatory megacorp in the last few years (if it's not VAT nonsense, then it's "we won't ship to you, period", where physical products are concerned). Shopping indie, at least as far as books are concerned, is almost always a US-only benefit at this point.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I... think you missed the meaning of the word "exclusive."

No. I just don't expect indie authors to behave like corporations. Yeah, their book isn't listed at Kobo or B&N.

Are KDP authors forbidden from selling their books at conventions and soforth? I doubt it.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by graycyn

So I have an Amazon library, mostly, but not all freebies, and I have a Kobo library, mostly purchases, with some freebies. I've also got purchases on Google and even a few from Smashwords. Not to mention QUITE a few purchases from Barnes & Noble in the early days, back before they removed the download option (haven't purchased from B&N since).

Yeah, I also have a bunch of old B&M nooks and some Smashwords and Kobo. But then I got lazy and buy exclusively from Amazon. A habit I'll be retiring now.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by ZodWallop

No. I just don't expect indie authors to behave like corporations. Yeah, their book isn't listed at Kobo or B&N.

Are KDP authors forbidden from selling their books at conventions and soforth? I doubt it.

The exclusivity is for eBook sales only. You generally don't sell those as conventions.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Rhooo

DRM and Amazon domination-related, I was recommended a DRM-free ebook site by a friend (Weightless Books) when I said that I wanted to support more DRM-free book vendors. Only to be slapped in the face with "we won't sell to you because we can't be arsed to handle VAT" as soon as I got to their site. Even my usual method of evading geo-blocking (VPN that makes it seem I'm in the US) didn't work, the process stalled as soon as I tried and failed to log in to PayPal for the shopping cart payment (my guess is they can detect the country the PP account is registered in).

Try eBooks.com. I've used it to travel from the UK to the US to buy eBooks using PayPal and I've traveled from the US to the UK to buy eBooks again using PayPal. So I know it works.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by djrx

IThe changes Amazon made didn't even make a dent in the tech news world as shown by the lack of coverage outside of this thread. Even on sites like reddit, there's barely any posts about it in r/kindle or r/calibre.

I did see a few Reddit posts in the last few days:

Best source of books after the recent Kindle changes? (/r/calibre)

Any Kindle device limitations to be aware of for DeDRM? (/r/calibre)

Anyone know how to remove DRM on new version of Kindle? (/r/LightNovels/)

and also one on a piracy subreddit that I won't be linking to...

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I did see a few Reddit posts in the last few days:

I think that Amazon was smart in tying the change to newly published books. It will take longer for word to get out that way. There are probably lots of people using old versions of Kindle for PC who haven’t noticed the change yet because they have not bought a book published this year yet. Months from now people will still be contacting Amazon customer support or posting here complaining that Kindle for PC just stopped working for them.

[ownedbycats]

Unless I misunderstood them, I was slightly baffled by that one post in the "best source of books" that equated removing the DRM for backups/sideloading to outright pirating the books:

If you are bad enough to remove DRM anyway, and you don't read them on a kindle (or you do on an older version), why not look for "free" (or "freed") books (epub, pdf) in the first place?

[innocenat]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Unless I misunderstood them, I was slightly baffled by that one post in the "best source of books" that equated removing the DRM for backups/sideloading to outright pirating the books:

Probably the same way many people are doing with cd/dvd/BD. They bought physical disk to support the creator, but aren't bothering to rip the disk so they use other means to acquire the content in digital format. It's not legal by any mean but it's not considered morally wrong by many.

[ownedbycats]

Originally Posted by innocenat

Probably the same way many people are doing with cd/dvd/BD. They bought physical disk to support the creator, but aren't bothering to rip the disk so they use other means to acquire the content in digital format. It's not legal by any mean but it's not considered morally wrong by many.

Ah yeah, I get that now. Still not legal, but a bit less morally ambiguous.

[innocenat]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There's one easy way to justify Kobo over Kindle. Kobo runs a much much better firmware and integrates really well with Calibre for eBook management. Kindle's eBook management is really really poor. The PW5 is like buying a Porsche with a lawnmower engine.

And one other thing, Kobo is not playing stupid games with you to block you from your eBooks. And if you want all of your Kindle eBooks, you need to find an older Kindle that has firmware that only handles KF8 and not KFX and not a PW5

I also have one very good reason for not buying Kobo. (And this is my actual reason for not owning a Kobo device). Some Kobo fanatics on online forums who push Kobo on every occasion without considering the context. People who never understood that different people have different requirement of a device, and what they consider great feature might not even be what other people need nor use.

[Patitapetit]

Originally Posted by innocenat

I also have one very good reason for not buying Kobo. (And this is my actual reason for not owning a Kobo device). Some Kobo fanatics on online forums who push Kobo on every occasion without considering the context. People who never understood that different people have different requirement of a device, and what they consider great feature might not even be what other people need nor use.

+💯

I was thinking the Same...